If you say “hope for the best,” there’s still hope, but if you say, “prepare for the worst” you’re going down a rougher road.

Those were the the wise words that opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi recently passed on to her colleagues, based on her “talks” with the regime’s liason officer. 

The September uprising was brutally put down on September 26 and 27, ending with the deaths of at least 31 protestors and hundreds of people arrested, according to the UN human rights commissioner. Activists in Burma say the death toll was much higher

Six months later and nothing has changed, only worsened. 

Hundreds of leading monks and activists are still incarcerated in the junta’s prisons. Activists are still being hunted down by authorities.

On March 12, authorities raided a house where Kyaw Kyaw, a leading member of the dissident group, Generation Wave, and eight of his colleagues were hiding, and arrested them all. A few days later, Kyaw Ko Ko and Nyan Linn Aung, leaders of the All Burma Federation of Students Unions, were arrested. Since March 6, nearly 20 activists have been arrested.

“We could be arrested at any time, day or night,” said Soe Tun, a leading member of the 88 Generation Students group and one of many activists who have been in hiding for six months.

Another is Nilar Thein, a colleague of Soe Tun. She still hasn’t seen her one-year old baby for six months. Her only news of her daughter, Nay Kyi Min Yu, comes from friends.
 
Her daughter’s father, Kyaw Min Yu, a leader of the 88 Generation Students group, was arrested in August when the members of the group peacefully protested against the regime’s rise in fuel prices. He’s still in prison.

In spite of her own problems, Nilar Thein still remembers the suffering of the Burmese people.
 
“People wake up every morning with fear,” Nilar Thein told The Irrawaddy by phone from her hiding place in Rangoon. She said she fears things are going from bad to worse.

“An uprising can happen anytime worse than the one in September,” said the 35-year-old activist who spent more than eight years in jail since 1996. 

Looking back on the past six months, the Burmese people have paid a heavy price. 

Yet, surprisingly, opposition groups and activists throughout the country continue to push ahead.

Activists groups and monks in Rangoon and Mandalay have launched a vote “No” campaign against the junta’s draft constitution. Monks have boycotted the state-run religious examinations.

The UN and United States continue to call for inclusiveness in the junta’s “roadmap” to democracy. But the military government continues to ignore all critics.

The generals are determined to have the constitutional referendum approved in May. In their dictionary, there is no “dialogue” or “compromise,” only “crackdown.” 
 
For example: The government enacted a law, the Referendum Law for the Approval of the Draft Constitution, last month. It calls for up to a three-year sentence and fine for anyone who distributes pamphlets or speeches against the referendum.
 
“They will resort to all the dirty tricks to get it approved,” said Tun Myint Aung, a leading member of the 88 Generation Students group. “The road ahead is going to be rough.”